South Ribble residents asked for budget ideas as maximum council tax rise planned

South Ribble Borough Council Pic: Ian Greig — South Ribble Borough Council. Pic: Ian Greig

South Ribble Borough Council is inviting residents to contribute to its budget plans as it proposes to increase its council tax share by the maximum amount.

The authority plans to implement a 2.99 per cent rise when its next financial year starts in April. For those living in Band D properties, this would work out at an extra £6.76 per year.

As the majority of council tax bills go to Lancashire County Council and there are also contributions to the police and fire services, the final bills will rise higher than this.

Among the proposals for the borough council’s budget plans are:

£15.3 million to complete and launch the Jubilee Gardens extra care scheme, with 75 supported apartments and facilities for residents.
£173,000 to progress the delivery of the Central Lancashire Local Plan to ensure sustainable development and investment opportunities
£1.27 million to create the infrastructure for weekly food waste collections
£2 million to improve the areas of Middleforth, and Kingsfold and Liverpool Road, in line with the Penwortham Masterplan
£38 million to deliver phase two of the Leyland Town Deal
£30,000 to deliver a Cultural Strategy to determine our arts, heritage, culture and events offer to help bring communities together and promote South Ribble as a visitor destination

Councillor Jacky Alty, Leader of South Ribble Borough Council said, “We receive around 10 per cent of a person’s total council tax bill. This is used to pay for vital services such as street cleansing, bin collection and recycling, planning and development, housing and community services, environmental and regulatory services, and health and leisure.

“We also use this to fund our urgent and emergency response services such as clearing fly tipping or fixing damaged playground equipment.

“It’s important that we consider our financial position when pulling together the budget and unlike many other local authorities across the country, we are in a relatively strong financial position. This is due in part to our investment projects, revenue streams and our considered approach to spend. We have also continued to look at ways to become efficient, while responding to changing community demand.

“However, we are not immune to economic challenges, and we have faced increases in inflation over recent years that have driven up our costs, whilst also increasing demand for our services.

“Funding to the council has not increased in line with inflation, placing additional pressure on our services. Despite this, our portion of council tax still comes in at one of the lowest in Lancashire.”

The budget consultation is available online, with responses being collected until January 30 and then collated to be considered as part of the full council meeting in March. Paper copies are available by request from council offices.

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